


Die Together

by Pronunciation_Hermy_One



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, CanYouFindtheNottPott, Child Near Death, Death, F/M, Fire, M/M, Selfless, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-19 16:22:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20660156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pronunciation_Hermy_One/pseuds/Pronunciation_Hermy_One
Summary: A man born in the first war only to survive the second, Bill Weasley has loved and lost: brothers, sisters, lovers and more. In war he made it a point to know his brothers, who he was living and dying with and for, but in life it’s the one secretly in his corner that ultimately counts. Surviving the war was easy, it’s life that will kill you.





	Die Together

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Fairest of the Rare's Sing-Me-A-Rare Volume 4. Much love to my beta who shall remain nameless for the moment!
> 
> Song Prompt: I See Fire - Ed Sheeran - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
> 
> What a beautiful community FotR has created and an honest priviledge it is to be a part of it. <3 Thank you for this beatiful comp-- it's my favorite each year!

It’s cold when he lands. No. Lands isn’t the right word, as he doesn’t remember falling. 

He stands to his feet slowly, looking around. Everything is familiar, but…. not _ quite _ right. 

The world around him is hazy. Not quite smoke or mist, but… something… in between. There is a breeze, icy cold around him, cutting through him. He shivers and waves an arm in front of himself as he takes a few tentative steps forward, testing the ground and space around him. 

“Hello?” He calls out and his voice echoes in the space, reverberating through the air. 

“I’ve been waiting for you.” A familiar voice chuckles from behind him and he whirls around, gasping as they come face to face, finally, again. His breath catches in his throat and the other man smiles, a crooked thing that causes a lump in his throat as he stares unmovingly. 

“It’s been a long time.” The other man continues haltingly. “But, we thought, even after all this time, you’d want--

“I do.” He answers quickly, without hesitation, and the other man grins again. 

“You’ll leave again in a moment.”

“No.” He shakes his head. “No, I won’t leave.”

“No choice.” He shrugs.

“You left.” The bitterness of accusation in his own voice is a surprise.

“No choice.” He repeats himself, softer this time, with no dismissal but instead a resigned acceptance. 

“I don’t want to.” He whispers, and it’s a plea as he takes a step closer to him, but the distance seems to remain the same.

“Then you’ll be back. Don’t be afraid.”

“Forever?” He takes another step and reaches his hand out towards him.

Shaggy hair flutters in the invisible breeze as he shrugs again. It’s infuriating. “That’s up to you.”

“That’s what I want.” His voice is hot with conviction.

“We’ll see.”

“Don’t give me that--” But his voice cuts off and his eyes widen in alarm as he feels this place slipping away from him. He opens his mouth to shout, but then he is gone. 

__________ 

It’s warmer than he had imagined. Well, warmer than he would have imagined if he’d stopped to think of the temperature. But there hadn’t really been time for such things. 

He blinks as dust settles on his eyelashes. The sounds of falling debris echoes through the hall. It’s hot. His throat burns, an acrid mixture of blood, sweat and the decay of rubble assault his senses. 

_ Get up. _

A beam has fallen soundly atop his chest. He struggles to lift it, but cannot.

_ Get up. Get up. _

He scrambles for purchase with his feet, attempting to roll out from under it. But his legs aren’t listening. 

_ Get. _

_ Up. _

The sounds become louder around him as he glances left and then right. 

_ GET. UP. _

His view is blocked by smoke to the right, but his right leg twitches as he sees Fleur down the end of the hallway to his left. She’s fighting three death eaters each at least twice her size. 

His heart thuds slowly as he processes the scene before him. 

“Finish the job!” It’s a familiar voice, harsh and gravelly. But the veil of smoke blocks his vision and he cannot see who is speaking. 

But then, he smells him, and with a jolt, he knows. A low growl sounds from over his shoulder and Bill pushes against the fallen timber with all his might. It slides a quarter of an inch, but remains steadfast. 

“I remember you.” The voice is behind him now. Bill doesn’t bother to look, he knows who it is. 

“Fenrir.” He chokes, pushing harder against the mass pressing against his chest. 

He can feel breath against his cheek now and turns his head to lock eyes with the man, no… beast. 

“There’s not much I hate more than a job left undone. A second chance? It’s too good to pass up.” Greyback chuckles, inches from his face. 

“Get this beam off of me and we’ll see what you can get done.” Bill glances toward Fleur for only a second before he returns his gaze once more. But it is enough and Greyback turns and sees her, too. 

“Ah. I’d heard you were married. A Weasley with such luck. I’ve never bitten a Veela before, you know.”

“And you won’t today either.” Bill’s eyes flash as his arm snakes out, wrapping his hand around Fenrir’s throat and squeezing. 

His eyes open in surprise and he falls back onto his haunches, Bill’s fingers releasing him as he slides out of reach. 

“You’re quick.”

“Nothing and no one will save you if you touch a hair on her head.” 

Fenrir laughs at this, licking his lips as he slides back behind Bill’s head. His fingers pull in Bill’s hair as he yanks his head backward, exposing Bill’s neck. “One bite. That’s all it will take. You can watch me end her life as you bleed out. Your final moments.

Bill’s heart is thudding in his chest, but he does his best to not show it. Fleur is there now, down the hall, in front of him. He’s watching as a hex catches her across the back of the knees and she hits the ground hard, her hands splayed on the castle floor and her wand rolling from her fingertips. 

He calls out, but her name dies on his lips as Fenrir’s arm crashes down against his windpipe. 

“Hush.” He whispers in Bill’s ears, the sound soft against the din of battle. “You don’t want to distract her. It will be ever so much more enjoyable if she doesn’t--”

But then there is a sickening thud against the wall behind them and Greyback is gone. 

“Bill!” 

The fallen timber is lifted and a sudden rush of oxygen fill’s Bill’s lungs as he struggles to lift himself to his forearms. A sheet of blonde hair blocks his vision for a moment and then her face clears. 

“Penelope?”

She nods, pulling him to his feet. “He certainly talks a lot.”

He blinks as she hands him a wand-- his wand. “Where did you?”

She nods in the direction of the wall. “I assume it’s yours?”

“It is. But--”

A scream sounds and he turns around to see Fleur, blood dripping from her lip and running down her cheek from her ear. He makes to run toward her but his legs give out momentarily. When he looks up, Penelope is already there. She and Fleur stand back to back and three cloaked figures fall to the ground with a crunch.

Fleur sees him then and the two women sprint to his side. 

“You are ‘urt?”

“No. No, I’m fine. Just--”

But then a wail pierces the air and his blood runs cold. 

“No!” The voice is screaming and the hair on the back of his neck and arms stands at attention because he knows that voice.

_ “Percy.” _

It is a whisper, and he’s not certain if it’s in his mind, or falls from his lips, but his eyes widen as he and Penelope look at one another before breaking into a run. 

“No! Fred! No!” 

He knows what he will find before he arrives, but runs nonetheless, sprinting through the halls of Hogwarts, hoping against hope he is wrong. 

__________ 

“You weren’t wrong.”

He looks up and realizes he’s on his knees. His throat is raw and he knows he’s been screaming. 

“I was so mad at you.” He rasps, staring at the floor. 

“I know.”

“You left. And then...”

“If there was anything in my power, anything at all to have spared you--”

“You couldn’t have come back?” His voice is harsher than he intends, but he doesn’t apologize.

He shakes his head. It makes Bill angry. 

“How am I, then?”

“You aren’t.”

“I am!”

“You can’t.”

“Then why--”

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

Bill exhales. “Can I stay now?”

He shakes his head again, more sadly this time. “She loved you.”

“Fleur?”

He smiles “Her, too.”

Bill blinks. “Who?”

Everything is fading away as he finds himself spinning once again. “Wait! Not yet! I need more time!”

“I’ll be here. Always.” His voice is distant and then he is gone. 

__________ 

The sky is a vivid display of pinks and purples fading into teal and cerulean blues as the sun creeps over the horizon. He can see it through the window of the Great Hall. His mother is still there, her body wrapped around his younger brother’s. There’s nothing he can do even if she moves, so he continues to sit. Numb.

Fleur’s head is on his shoulder and he can feel her breathing. Ginny is wrapped tightly between Hermione and Ron; he’s glad she has them. There is a breath of air that ruffles Fleur’s hair as a man he recognizes passes him: Oliver Wood. He’s carrying a young boy across his shoulders.

Bill’s stomach twists and bile rises in his throat. The boy is too young to have been allowed to stay. Oliver sets the boy on the ground, passing a hand over his face gently before turning and heading back outside. 

“There are things to do.” Bill murmurs to Fleur as he shifts her from his shoulder and moves to stand.

Oliver is through the front doors now. Bill trails behind him, just passing the staircase when a hand snakes out to catch his wrist. 

“Where is Potter?”

Bill’s eyes narrow as he whips around, wand aloft. “Who are you…” His eyes take in the young man’s green tie, “Slytherin?”

He only shakes his head in response while looking side to side. Brown hair is stuck to his forehead with sweat. He’s tall, thin and obviously alone. “He’s not in the Great Hall. Do you know where he is?”

“What’s it to you?” Bill spits, wrenching his wrist back. 

“You lot are supposed to keep him safe.” The young man growls. 

“And your lot are trying to kill him.” Bill hisses, stepping back and aiming his wand. 

He shakes his head with disgust. “Not all of us, Weasley. Find him… Please.”

The desperation in his voice catches him off guard, and before Bill can even respond, he has turned and is running in the opposite direction. 

Bill stands for only a moment before continuing on toward the entrance. There are bodies littering the ground; he swallows once as he descends the steps. 

Neville is there, a girl who appears his own age at his feet. 

“Greyba--” She’s gasping, blood bubbling from the corner of her mouth. 

“It’s alright, Lavender.” Neville’s mouth is set in a tight line, his eyes narrowed as he kneels to the ground and sets her head in his lap. 

There’s a gurgle and Bill sees Neville’s shoulders set as he brushes the hair back from the face of the girl lying in his lap. “You’re so brave. Do you know that, Lavender? A Gryffindor through and through.”

Bill approaches them slowly and kneels beside Neville. Her eyes are wide and unseeing now. Bill takes a shuddering breath. 

“I’ll take her, Neville.”

Neville shakes his head. “No. It should be me.”

“I can—”

“No.” Neville shakes his head vehemently as he stands, hoisting the girl’s body into his arms. “It has to be me.”

Bill watches him as he stands, bearing the weight of the world in the frame of this tiny girl. She is laying across his arms, long brown curls blowing in the breeze, her feet dangling as Neville makes his way across the ground and up the steps. 

They’re too young. They’re all too young. He looks out at the tiny bodies littering the ground, fire lapping at the roof of Hagrid’s hut. Anguished cries of pain, loss, and terror fill the night. Destruction looms everywhere. He knows their own is imminent. So much death and only Harry can stop it. Bill closes his eyes and breathes before moving again, leaving his faith in Harry. 

__________ 

His knees sting as he hits the ground again. They’ll definitely be bruised at this rate. He’s almost too angry to notice though and as he scrambles to his feet he wants to hit something… maybe someone. 

“Do you have any idea what you did to me?”

He nods forlornly as he answers. “I do. I’ve watched everything. Every day.”

“You weren’t supposed to be watching. You were supposed to be living it with me!” Bill takes a breath and turns away from him. “I don’t want to see anymore. I felt as if I’d failed you when—”

“You’ve never failed me, Bill.”

“He was just lying there. The sun was barely in the sky. It was cool, for May, but with the fire all around us… When I saw Hagrid carry him in I thought… this is it. It’s over. It’s all over.”

“You must’ve been terrified.”

Bill scoffs. “I was…” he runs a hand through his hair. “Terrified, sure. But for a fleeting moment… relieved. A distant part of me hoped I could see you again. Would see you again. Just… to be with you. If it’s all over, we could be together. I could find you.”

“I never left you.”

“You keep saving that!”

“But, it’s true.”

“It certainly felt as if you’ve been gone.” He steps forward, reaching in front of himself. 

“I’m right here.”

“_ Keep him safe, Bill. He’s all that matters. _ That’s what you said to me. And I did. I tried. Above all else! I was there. I did everything in my power, never letting on that—”

“That you were doing what I was no longer able.” 

Bill feels the heat of unshed tears pricking his eyes. “You weren’t there.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You missed everything.”

“I know.”

“I moved on, you know.” Bill means this one to sting. He searches his face to see the pain he hoped to inflict, but finds only a smile. 

“You had happy times.” 

“I did.” 

Silence followed and Bill swallows, feeling guilty. “We had happy times, too.”

He laughs. “Stolen moments in an otherwise war torn existence.” 

“It could have worked.” It sounds like a question to his own ears and so Bill repeats himself. “We could have worked.”

He’s nodding, a sad smile, as Bill disappears again. 

__________

“She’s beautiful.

Bill blinks at the abrupt change and looks down as a bundle of blanket wrapped baby is placed in his arms. He’s conscious this time of the change in space as he’s hurtled back. His eyes widen as he looks around the room and then back at her beautiful pink face. 

“Congratulations, Bill.” The voice placing the bundle in his arms is familiar, but he’s too mesmerized to look up. 

He knows his mouth is agape, open like a fish as he looks up toward Fleur. She’s lying in the bed, a slight breeze ruffling her hair from the open window. “We ‘ave a daughter.” 

“A daughter.” He repeats, dumbfounded as he tries to get his bearings. 

“Do you need to sit down?” The familiar voice speaks again and he finally looks up to see Penelope Clearwater smiling at him. He wavers, the room seems to spin around him as she slides into focus.

“Mr. Weasley?”

He stammers in reply. 

“Bill? Are you— is it—?”

He finds a chair beneath him and sits down heavily. “She’s beautiful.”

Penelope laughs. “She is.”

Fleur chortles playfully and his eyes snap to her face. She’s searching his gaze and he does his best to silently reassure her that he is okay. She seems appeased as she smirks. “Of course she is. Look at her parents.” 

He laughs out loud and the baby startles in his arms. 

“Thank you.” He whispers to Penelope as she takes the baby’s vitals before turning toward his wife. 

“I love you.” He murmurs toward Fleur, his gaze drifting from her face to that in his arms. He feels a sense of purpose, completeness, and realizes it’s the first time he’s felt this way in more than half a decade.

It is some time later as he is lost in the beauty of her newborn face, the weight of the day, the emotions and beauty of it all crashing down upon him as his eyes are drifting closed. 

“Victoire.” He hears her voice, softly, carrying through the room. 

He smiles. “Yes.” As he tucks her head beneath his chin, his eyelids fluttering. “Victoire.”

__________ 

“It was then. That was the first time I wondered if I’d ever see you again.”

Bill sits up faster this time, growing accustomed to the sudden change as he pulls himself to standing. 

“It was the first time I felt truly whole again since you… almost whole, anyway.”

“I never stopped watching.”

“It must’ve been difficult, sometimes.”

He shrugs, running a hand through his hair. “I wish you nothing but happiness, Bill.”

“I’d have been jealous. If our roles were reversed.”

He laughs out loud then. “A bit... sometimes.”

“I’ve really missed you.” Bill speaks before he can stop himself. 

“You have no idea.” There is no trace of bitterness in his voice, and Bill is amazed by this.

“How can you not be angry? You missed so much.”

“It was the only choice that could bring you back to me.”

“Back to you? You were nowhere!”

“I’ve been here.”

“Watching. Not really with us! And I was suffering. Broken by a war that never should have been. Broken over losing you. Then her. Then them.”

“I’ve never left you.”

Bill laughs and he’s the bitter one now. “Oh you most certainly did leave!”

“Temper, temper.” He chastises as Bill feels himself slipping once more. 

“Enough!” He shouts as the room spins, but it is too late, and he’s gone once again. 

__________

“Mr. Weasley, _ please _, you must give him to me!” The healer is shouting, trying to pull his arms open. 

Bill feels light-headed as he tries to get his bearings. When he looks down at his hands he realizes they are covered in blood. It coats his arms and the young boy lying in them. 

“Bill!”

It is Louis, he realizes with a start, and he wants to vomit as he remembers. 

The sharp sting of a hand connects with his cheek and he gasps as the room come into sharp focus. Healer Clearwater’s wand is in his face as she wrests Louis from his arms. 

“I cannot _ help _him if you do not let him go!”

He lets go immediately, sinking against the wall behind him. 

“Please.” He’s not certain if his plea is even audible as Penelope disappears through the doors with his youngest child in her arms. 

It seems like hours before she returns. Fleur is there now, pacing in the corner. She has barely looked at him since she arrived. She pauses occasionally as if to scream at him, but seems to decide against it and resumes her pacing. He feels nauseous when Penelope enters the room, blood smeared across her robes and her hair plastered with sweat against her head.

Penelope is taking calming breaths and Bill counts the beats as she inhales and exhales. The click of her heels echo through the room as she approaches them. 

“Healer Clearwater--” He begins. 

“Where is my Louis?” Fleur’s voice cracks as she dashes toward her. 

“Mr. and Mrs. Weasley--”

“Where is my _ son _?” Fleur all but screams in Penelope’s face as Bill leaps to his feet. 

“Please, follow me.” Penelope’s head is bowed as she brings them through a set of doors and down a hallway. 

He’s lying there, so pale, when they walk through the door. 

He turns to face her as Fleur dashes to his bedside “Will he--”

“ Yes. But, it will take time.”

“I--”

“It wasn’t your fault.” Their eyes lock in the doorway for a moment before she whispers, glancing back toward the bed. 

“He’s been asking. I said no for so long. I really thought he was ready to--”

“No one could have kept him safer, Mr. Weasley.” She’s staring at the floor now.

“It was my job to keep him safe. Above anything else--”

His vision swirls as Penelope’s hand moves suddenly as if to grasp his own before falling back to her side. She glances back toward the bed once more before leaving the room. 

__________

He throws up on the floor before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “I don’t want to see anything like that again.”

“You must believe it important.”

“I don’t know what I believe. Haven’t you been watching? I don’t remember any of this—”

“But you do, Bill. You wouldn’t see it if you didn’t.”

“Why? Why is it important? I just want it to end. I can’t relive all of this.”

“Because you have a choice to make.”

Bill’s eyes snap to his. “A choice?” 

He nods. 

“What choice? I can save him? My marriage? Turn the disaster that was my life around?” 

He shakes his head. 

“You’ll have a choice. It is ensured.”

“By who? Of where to spend eternity? If you’re a choice, I choose you. I’d have chosen you then.”

“She loves you.”

“Fleur?”

“She does, too.”

“Bollocks. She couldn’t forgive me. Shouldn’t. I don’t blame her. It’s not her.”

“No. It isn’t.” He shakes his head. 

“I’m done with these games!” Bill is shouting now. He’s angry. 

“It is not up to me. The next time I see you, you will have made your choice.” He smiles, and for the first time Bill sees a hint of worry and perhaps… sadness. 

“I choose you!” Bill screams as the world turns dark again. 

__________

There wasn’t any screaming. No scene before their dissolution. He had failed. Louis was gone and then so was Fleur with their daughters. He had failed them all. He deserved nothing more or less. 

Penelope is standing in front of the door. He can see her inhaling as she lifts her wand and then falter. “This is highly dangerous.”

Bill shrugs in response and continues onward until he is standing beside her. There isn’t any reason to not continue. Of that he’s sure. 

“Are you certain, Bill?”

He looks at her until he is positive she can see his eyes and understand the assuredness of his certainty. “If I can get my son back, there’s no danger too great.”

“There’s no guarantee.”

“It’s our only hope."

He places a hand on her shoulder, looking down at her. “I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve your friendship, Penelope Clearwater. In every hour of need, you’ve been there. You’re the only one who has stood by my side, helping me to get Louis back. There is nothing that can stop me now. With you…” he trails off. “Please.” 

Bill watches as she steels herself and raises her wand once more with conviction. The door clicks open and he finds himself in darkness lit only by their wands. 

“This way.” She whispers and he follows her quietly down a hall and into a circular room with many doors. The room spins around them and he freezes as she opens a door and leads him inside. 

“I’ve been here before.” He murmurs, his blood running like ice in his veins. 

She pauses to look at him. “Yes, I remember hearing. It was when we all found out He— Voldemort— has returned.”

“His return and a great personal loss.” Bill whispers to the ground. 

“Do you want to go back?” 

He shakes his head. There is no use, no other goal than to bring his son back. 

And then there they are, walking down the flight of stone steps. His heart is racing, beating in his chest so hard he can barely breathe. 

It sits there in the center of the room. The veil blows slightly as if beckoning to him and he finds himself walking toward it involuntarily. 

“_Bill.” _

His stomach lurches as he walks closer. “I hear you.” He whispers, walking forward faster now. 

“Bill?” Penelope sounds very far away as he comes to stand before it. 

“Are you there?” He calls, his hand rising unbiddenly toward the fluttering curtain, its inky blackness inviting him toward its enveloping finality. 

“I’m here.” He whispers into the nothingness. He’s quite positive the answer lies behind it. Though he isn’t convinced he knows the questions. 

He jumps backward as Penelope grabs him by the shoulders and yanks. “Get away from there!” 

Bill blinks twice, looking between the veil and Penelope. “I’m— I’m sorry. I…”

She is staring at him, a mixture of fear and curiosity evident on her face. “You cannot go there, Bill.”

“I— I know. I didn’t…” He’s staring at the veil as she leads him to the other end of the room, behind the crumbling archway and curtain. 

“I don’t remember seeing this door.” He murmurs as she leads him through. 

The room is small, little more than the size of a small alcove. But the walls are covered in a lush blue velvet and he is instantly warm. An ornate chair, no, almost a throne, sits in the center, glistening of mother of pearl in their combined wand light.

“I didn’t realize this was…” she trails off as she lights a torch upon the wall, catching him glancing back at the door they had just walked through. “I can’t operate this and keep you here. Can I trust you to stay with me?”

Bill nods, turning definitely away from the closed door. “That was in the past. Louis is all that matters. I’m sorry, Penelope. You can trust me.”

She nods, seemingly satisfied as she brings him to sit before lighting the remaining flames. “It hasn’t been used in…” She stops speaking suddenly as if choking and gasps for air. “There are certain things you understand I cannot tell you.”

He nods. “They’ll throw you in Azkaban for this if anyone finds out. Are _ you _ sure, Penelope?”

She smiles as he sits. “From healer to unspeakable… there is nothing else for me, Bill. If this is to end in fire…”

“We should all burn together.” He whispers. “But why? Why for me?”

“It’s been ten years and he’s the only one… I believed he would heal. I told you he would be whole again. And still he sits… he—”

“But how did you come to the decision to— how did you know this was even possible?”

She opens her mouth to respond and stops. Shaking her head she shrugs, smiling simply. “I cannot explain.”

Bill nods in acceptance and sits calmly while she explains. 

“Your own life will be diminished by at least half.”

“Take it all.” He says simply. “He deserves more than that chair. Watching him sit and look out the window every day, it’s— it’s more than I can bear.” 

“I don’t know what it will feel like. It may be very painful.”

Bill sets his jaw, his eyes narrow as he exhales.”

“I’m ready. Tell them… tell them I love them, Penelope.”

“You can tell them yourself.” 

“But just in case… tell them, please.”

As she nods it all comes flooding back to him as memories past collide with this reality. Bill opens his mouth to scream, but it is too late. The screams are ripped from him as the room is flooded with light and then there is only darkness.

__________

It’s dark. 

It’s dark all the time now. 

Sometimes it’s cool and sometimes it’s warm. 

Sometimes he doesn’t know what it is. He’s not sure he even cares. 

But it’s always dark. 

“Bill, your sister should arrive soon. She has a whole week off and is coming to stay with you. She’s such a darling. And Percy owled, he’ll be here on Thursday. He’s bringing Victoire.”

Her voice is always sweet though, familiar, but he cannot really place it. He’s come to realize that he is Bill. The other people, their names and relations to him are a bit fuzzy. But she protects him, and so he’s certain they will also be kind. 

There is a cool cloth on his face. He wants to open his eyes, to sit up, to thank her. His body does not respond though when he tries. He’s frustrated for a moment, but then that too dissipates. 

“Ginny!” He hears her voice next to his face and then another across the room. He hears the rustling of fabric and realizes they are hugging. 

“How is he today? Any change?”

“Not really. Night time and dawn are the worst. He moans, but it’s mostly unintelligible. He doesn’t seem to be in any discomfort physically. Just…”

She trails off and he thinks her voice sounds sad, but he does not know why. 

“Well, at any rate, it’s nice to have you here this week.”

“It’s the least I can do. Harry and I are glad mum and dad decided to take a holiday. I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

Cool lips press against his forehead and he inhales a familiar scent. _ Sister _ he thinks and he tries to smile, to turn his head. Nothing happens. 

“You, dear brother, are a sight for sore eyes. I’ve much to catch you up on.”

She talks for hours it seems. Her voice is playful and she moves from one topic to the next without pause. 

Her husband, Harry, says hello. He wants to know when their next quidditch match will be. He’ll be ready at the Burrow and even let Bill have the fastest broom. The darkness turns to a flash of green whenever she says his name… _ Harry. _

She has children, and they’re at Hogwarts now. That word makes his skin itch. The blackness fades momentarily into shades of red and orange. _ Hogwarts. _

Mum and Dad are on holiday, he knows their voices too. They’re by his bedside each day. 

He has two daughters, _ Victoire _ and _ Dominique. _Shades of purple cloud his vision. 

There is a son, too. _ Louis. _That name is blue and velvety… warm. But it makes him want to get up and run as fast as he can. It makes him feel frantic as if he’s supposed to be somewhere or doing something. 

“It’s getting late. Do you want me to stay tonight, Penelope?” 

He is tired, he realizes, as he hears Ginny speak. 

“No.” She murmurs, and he feels a soft hand on his wrist. 

“Is it still the same?” 

“Hmmm?” Penelope murmurs, the cool cloth is against his face again. 

“When he moans. You said it was ‘_ quick, Fred, serious, Hogwarts, Louis, please,” _right? 

Penelope is nodding, he can feel it as the bed jostles. But he feels her tense as Ginny speaks and he is worried about her. “Always the same. You go home and see everyone, Ginny.”

She sighs and he feels her stand from the corner of the bed where she was perched. “I will see you tomorrow morning, then. You’re an angel, Penelope. I don’t know what we’ve done to deserve you or how we’d survive without you."

It is a moment before he hears the door click closed. Penelope is sniffling and he knows she’s crying. The darkness is suddenly green and he wants to comfort her. 

The door opens again and he hears a voice he does not recognize. “Most of the staff ‘as gone. Are you ready?” It is feminine, hard, but familiar. 

Penelope clears her throat before speaking. “I’m ready.”

“There’s no turning back. You won’t be able to get away with it twice. They’ll know it’s you this time, especially as you do not even work in the ministry now.”

“I’ve never been more certain of anything.”

The world moves slowly then, and Bill feels as if he is flying. His consciousness is grappling for coherence. He remembers this happening before and knows soon the end will arrive again. 

It is a while before the movement stops and he feels himself sitting. The seat is familiar, the room warm, and suddenly he knows where he is. His stomach jolts at the memory of pain from the last time he sat in this seat.

“He’s ready. You have to wait until I’m seated before you begin.”

Her voice is steady, and he is trying to put the pieces together, but is incapable of moving, of speaking, of… anything. 

Her lips are cool against his temple and he strains to speak. 

“I was wrong last time. I missed the key pieces. I can fix it this time. We can fix it together. Louis, he’ll be fine. And I know you’re willing. That’s what it takes. And I’m willing. So willing. Anything for you, Bill.”

“We ‘aven’t much time.” 

Penelope disappears from his side, but he can still hear her. “I’m ready.”

There is a hesitation and then the other woman’s voice speaks again. “You truly love him don’t you?”

Penelope answers and her voice is loud and clear. “I do.”

There is a sigh and the other voice responds. “I am glad he will ‘ave you.” 

“And you will have your son.”

“I loved him, you know.” 

There is silence for a moment, and so Bill is left only to imagine. 

“I loved him. But you…you ‘ave given your entire life for Bill. A healer, an unspeakable…lies, deceit, the war, and now your life... all for him. 

More silence follows before Penelope clears her throat once more and speaks. “Stop at nothing once you begin. Use the cloak to leave or they will find you and there will be nothing anyone can do for you, least of all me. You must get to Louis at once.”

“Ginny is with him. She will keep him safe until I can arrive.”

“I am sorry, Fleur.” He hears Penelope’s voice, but it sounds very far away as a door clicks closed in the distance. 

“As am I.” He hears her voice softly. _ Fleur. _He wants to apologize, to make amends for his disastrous mistakes, but he cannot. 

“Thank you for bringing back our son.” 

They are the last words he hears before he is enfolded in a warm darkness. It slips over him like a blanket on the coldest of winter nights, and he can almost hear the crackling of a fire as the flood of light overtakes him once again. 

__________

Bill is lying on the ground. The world is bathed in sunlight, streaming at him from every direction in an impossible bath of light. He’s lying in front of the castle on Hogwarts’ grounds. He’s never seen it so bright, yet he isn’t blinded, simply comforted. It’s peaceful and he feels content. 

Content is a feeling he hasn’t experienced in a long time. 

He sits slowly, his body aching from unuse or misuse or maybe both. 

“Hello, Bill.”

He turns his head slowly toward where Hagrid’s hut should have been, and she is there, bathed in the dawn light. Golden hair settles across her shoulders and falls down her back as she stands before him. She shifts uneasily from one foot to the other. 

“Penelope.”

She smiles, but it is shy. 

“Where are we? This isn’t Hogwarts.”

She shrugs and takes a tentative step toward him. “I’m… not sure.”

“Why?” There are a million questions he should ask, but that is the one that falls from his lips first. 

She freezes, watching his face. 

“Louis is awake.” 

“I— thank you.” It sounds so shallow, so insignificant in exchange. 

“You gave your life for him?”

She shakes her head. “Not really him.”

“For…”

She smiles again, a blush creeping up her cheeks, and gestures lamely toward where he is now kneeling. 

“Me?” He knows he sounds incredulous and hopes he hasn’t hurt her feelings. “I’m not… worth your life.”

She laughs now. “No, you wouldn’t think so, would you? We have very different opinions of your worth, Bill Weasley.”

He falls back onto his heels, staring as if he’s never seen her before. 

“Oh, Bill.” She is kneeling before him now. 

“You were such an enigma to us all. But not me. I knew from the moment I met you: there wasn’t anything you would hesitate to do for anyone you loved. You raged a war selflessly. You’d have died for anyone on our side. You almost did.”

“You were there.” He speaks quietly, mostly to himself, as memories of the battle, memories that

have haunted him for decades, come flooding back. “You were always there…”

“For you.”

“But it wasn’t for me. You defended Fleur. You were there for my children. You gave your life for them!”

“For you.”

“But—”

“Because you deserved it. You gave everything, never wanting in return. I watched you, Bill. And everyone thought you the eldest, the strongest, the most capable. It never occurred to them that you would need any help as you bled and died and gave everything to everyone.”

“They deserve it.”

“_You _ deserve it.” She enunciated each word, locking eyes with him. 

“Because you loved me?”

“Because I love you.”

His heart stutters as everything sinks into place. 

“Don’t worry. I know you don’t love me.” She bites her lip, but there is no anger in her face. “Not like that.”

“It took me a bit to put it all together. It wasn’t until we were in the Department of Mysteries. I spoke with your brother… about what happened there. He was a great man. It’s a shame no one knows his story. A lot like you. Selfless. Would die for his friends, his brothers in arms. Nothing could stop him. He simply…”

“Got too close to the flame.” Bill finishes. 

“You loved him.”

Bill nods, glancing at the floor. “I never stopped loving him.”

“I’ve watched you. All this time. Fighting as if you had nothing to lose. Because you didn’t. You’d lost it already, hadn’t you?”

“I was too slow.”

“No one could have stopped it.”

“I was too slow for Fred.”

“We all were.”

“I was too slow for Louis.”

She takes his hands then and brings them to her lips. “He will be fine now. It’s a miracle, they will say.”

“Thank you.” Is all he can whisper.

They are silent for a few moments, hand in hand, before he glances around the room. “What now?”

“Now they say, you are supposed to make a choice.” She says simply. 

Bill feels a sense of terror creeping into the pit of his stomach. 

“That’s not something you’ve gotten to do very often, is it, Bill?”

“What’s that?” He cocks his head to the side. 

“Make choices. They always seem to be made for you.”

He nods, swallowing. He doesn’t want to make this choice. How can he? She’s given her life for him, for his child. 

“Is the choice you or…?”

She shakes her head. “Tell me about him.”

He laughs and finds himself smiling. “There aren’t words to... he was a force to be reckoned with. Fiery and headstrong, passionate and unpredictable. He was determined and reckless and he drove me mad. He said I was too young in one breath and then that he was broken without me in the next. I couldn’t live without him. At least I didn’t think I could. He was everything to me— my friend, lover, the other half of me.”

He realizes he’s crying now and swipes angrily at his cheeks. “It was short and then he was gone. ‘_ Take care of Harry, Bill. If anything happens to me, you have to take care of Harry.’ _ And so I did. But then when that was done, when the war was over and everything was supposedly right with the world, nothing was right, because he wasn’t there to share it with. The victory. The loss. Fucking _ all _ of it. I tried. I tried to move on, but when he fell, I fell with him and I’ve been falling ever since.”

“I’ve watched you, this fire consuming you from within for all of these years. I saw it that day in the castle. You couldn’t save yourself, but you could save Fleur. You could barely breathe but for the memories of war eating at you day and night. But your children, oh how you lived for them. Bill, you deserve to be happy now. You have lived for them, loved them, died for them!”

“You’ve done all of this… for me?” Bill realizes he’s still holding her hands. 

“And now I’m sorry to say I have to take one last thing from you.”

He knows it’s coming. He’s not sad, not really. Penelope has given him everything: her life and death for him. It’s only right that he choose her now. Bill is grateful for the few moments he had with him. He now understands the sadness in his smile as he disappeared for the last time. 

“You’ve saved my life. You saved my child. You can take anything, anything at all. I give it freely to you, Penelope.”

“I have always loved you.” His eyes are closed and her voice is but a whisper, a breath across his lips as she lowers hers to his own. 

And then she is gone and the space where she was is cold. He opens his eyes and sees she is walking away now, purposefully striding into the distance. 

“I take your choice, Bill. My last gift to you.” Her voice carries like a whisper through the space as she disappears beyond the horizon. “And I hope that you'll remember me.”

“Penelope?” He shouts after her, feeling suddenly alone in the expanse. They are no longer at Hogwarts, and Bill looks around curiously at the emptiness. 

There are footsteps behind him and he turns slowly to follow the sound. His heart drops at the sight of shaggy hair and a crooked smile. He knows that here in eternity, his life will finally begin. 

“Sirius.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
